The present invention relates generally to self-propelled construction equipment including an arrangement for controlled guidance of the propulsion thereof over a ground surface, e.g., a slip-form paving apparatus adapted to continuously slip-form a settable paving material such as concrete into a predetermined cross-sectional shape along the ground or other base surface, and, more particularly, to such an apparatus for planting a series of vertical posts in the ground surface.
Self-propelled concrete paving machines of the general type indicated above are known, representative examples being illustrated and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,789,266; 4,808,026; 5,662,431; and others, which disclose multi-purpose paving machines that can pave roadways, as well as form curbs, gutters, spillways, sidewalks, troughs, barriers, and other continuous concrete extrusions depending upon the configuration of a mold supported by the machine.
In some applications suitable for slip-form paving, such as the formation of highway medians situated between oppositely directed lanes of automotive traffic, it is desirable to provide an elevated barrier above the median, often in the form of bars, cable, wire, rails or the like extending between upright posts or columns spaced periodically along the median. The provision of such barriers in highway medians poses an impediment to the most efficient use of slip-form paving equipment in that the requisite support posts cannot be planted in the ground along the path of the intended median in advance of the slip-forming of the median. Thus it is conventionally necessary to install the posts after formation of the median, which requires that bores must be formed in the paving material in order to accommodate the securement of the posts.